Listening to Uchiha Akihiko's voice on the verge of collapse, Ling frowned. "Akihiko, your mind is in chaos."
"My mind is in chaos?" Uchiha Akihiko let out a bitter laugh, his voice still hoarse. "How could it not be? I can even foresee my limited future—
Fighting until the last moment with this cursed and powerful Mangekyo Sharingan, and then dying in front of Kazuhiko, allowing him to inherit this power and repeat my tragedy! Ling, don't you understand? Chasing this so - called higher - level power will only lead the Uchiha clan to a dead end! Our clan has no future at all!"
"Is that so? You think so..." After a long silence, Ling let out a long sigh. "No wonder. The awakening of the Sharingan is always accompanied by intense emotional upheaval, and there are always so many tragedies around us.
However, Akihiko, the future of the Uchiha clan has never been tied to the so - called Kekkei Genkai. The Uchiha can still show their strength without the Sharingan, but the Sharingan, once separated from the Uchiha, is nothing more than a beautiful eyeball that continuously consumes chakra and even backfires on its owner.
No matter how the ninja world changes, what will always resound in this ninja world is the name of the Uchiha, not the Sharingan. Akihiko, don't let the power brought by the Kekkei Genkai affect your will. It is people who master the Kekkei Genkai, not the other way around."
This time, Uchiha Akihiko went silent. But after a brief moment of quietness, his voice was full of mockery and sadness. "I'm so stupid, like an idiot, talking to someone who can't understand the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan at all... That is the power of the gods. How can there be no difference between gods and humans?
Well, that's enough. After losing your eyes, you're no longer the one who can lead us. Just go home and indulge in that false happiness. I've far surpassed you now."
"Akihiko, you blindly believe in the power of the Kekkei Genkai."
Uchiha Akihiko stopped in his tracks. This time, his voice turned completely cold. "Are you looking down on me? Are you looking down on these Mangekyo Sharingan that represent power?"
"No, I'm just stating a fact," Ling remained calm. "You've been blinded by Akihiko's death and the sudden power. Without a cool head, no matter how strong you are, you can never surpass me."
"Then come and give it a try," Uchiha Akihiko's scarlet eyes swirled with the patterns that constantly dispersed into the three - tomoe Sharingan and then gathered again. His hoarse voice squeezed out between his teeth. "Come and experience this powerful force born of despair for yourself. I'll show you with my strength what the gap between a man and a god is!"
"Alright, then wait until your injuries..."
"Right now! To the training ground!" Uchiha Akihiko stared fixedly at Ling. "Don't try to run away. You don't stand a chance under these eyes."
Ling let out another long breath, this time with obvious exhaustion and a sigh in his voice. "… If you insist."
Uchiha Akihiko snorted and walked ahead to lead the way. Ling also tapped his staff sword and followed his steps. They walked through the clan territory one in front and the other behind. As they walked, the fighting spirit they had for each other without deliberately concealing caught the attention of many clan members.
Clan members who didn't know them well took a quick look and then withdrew their gazes. It was quite normal for peers to have a conflict and arrange a fight. Besides, they were just two kids. What trouble could they possibly cause?
But those who knew them well were struggling with whether to go and have a look. Those more sensitive to politics even ran towards the elders' department, intending to inform the elders of this incident. After all, from the looks of it, it was clearly not an ordinary sparring session.
Uchiha Akihiko was once a strong competitor for the young clan leader. His choice to conflict with Ling when Ling was blind and the clan was re - electing an heir was undoubtedly a signal for the various factions within the clan to start taking sides, even though neither of the two in conflict had thought about it.
Father Tajima Uchiha, the clan leader, naturally also received the report. The moment he heard the news, his eyebrows knitted together. He stood up with a serious expression. "Izuna, sorry, you eat first. I have to go and have a look."
Izuna was a bit dazed but still nodded obediently. After watching Father Tajima Uchiha leave with the clan members, he sat alone at the table, looking at the sumptuous meal but lost his appetite. He just silently curled his legs and hugged himself into a ball.
He didn't like eating alone.
...
More and more clan members trailed behind Ling and Uchiha Akihiko. But it was obviously too late to change the place now. Ling subconsciously raised his hand to rub his forehead, thinking about all the possible outcomes after the fight. But before he could think further, Uchiha Akihiko's cold and stiff voice came over.
"Let's start. Don't say I didn't warn you."
Ling slowly drew out his staff sword. The tip of the blade gently touched the ground as he let out an almost inaudible sigh. "… Come on."
Hearing their conversation, the clan members who were still training voluntarily stepped back to make room for them.
Seeing that the entire training ground had been cleared, Uchiha Akihiko's gaze fell on Ling again. By now, he had calmed down a bit and began to think about how to turn this terrible situation around. But when he saw Ling standing there calmly, as if waiting for him to initiate an attack, a surge of anger born out of not being understood by others welled up inside him once more.
Yes, Ling could never understand what he had been through. Nor could he possibly fathom the power he had acquired.
[It wouldn't be so bad if I could dethrone him from his lofty position.]
This thought popped up and refused to go away. Uchiha Akihiko licked his chapped lips. His scarlet eyes became even more striking under the cover of the evening glow.
[Right, the Uchiha clan has always revered the strong - one. If I can defeat Ling, I'll have absolute say among my peers. And why should I hand over the position of clan leader to Madara? Once I become the clan leader, I can order the clan members to avenge Akihiko. Ah, that's right. As long as I gain power...]
At this moment, the patterns in Uchiha Akihiko's eyes finally stopped changing, settling into a magnificent yet somewhat eerie design.
The instant Uchiha Akihiko made up his mind, Ling, standing across from him, felt a palpable sense of hostility. He couldn't help but become even more cautious.
The two stood facing each other in the middle of the field. None of the surrounding clan members spoke up to urge them to start or question why they were still waiting.
As the sky grew darker, Uchiha Akihiko realized that this standoff would only place him in an increasingly unfavorable situation, especially when he was already tired. He let out a soft click of his tongue, then reached into the ninja tool pouch behind his waist and grabbed several Shuriken. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the Shuriken flying in a tricky arc at Ling.
Accompanied by the crisp sounds of metal clashing, Ling sliced all of the Shuriken that Uchiha Akihiko had thrown into two pieces, and they fell to the ground.
Uchiha Akihiko wasn't surprised by this. In fact, this was exactly what he wanted - to make Ling cut these Shuriken. More precisely, he aimed to deprive Ling of the opportunity to use chakra sensing.
After all, Ling was blind, and the only way for him to sense the outside world was through chakra sensing. As long as he didn't give Ling the opportunity to sense his surroundings and forced Ling to react passively, he would surely emerge victorious!
Although he felt that his actions were despicable, Uchiha Akihiko didn't hold back at all. He stared intently at Ling, his hands moving rapidly to form hand seals. He guided the chakra to gather in his chest and compressed it highly, then blew it all out through his mouth. The chakra, transformed by the fire - attribute nature, instantly morphed into a ferocious and imposing Karyū (Fire Dragon), roaring towards Ling with a relentless momentum.
Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu!
]
Before the Karyū approached, the scorching heat it carried rushed towards Ling. It burned the hair on his forehead, but failed to make the slightest change in his expression. Even more, Ling's body reacted before his mind. He stepped back slightly with his right foot, lowered his center of gravity, and the blade in his hand glowed with a faint blue light. [Coiling Around] an invisible airflow, and then he suddenly lifted the blade upwards and swung it at the majestic Karyū.
The moment the Karyū touched the sword blade, it devoured the [Wind - Attribute Chakra] [Coiling Around] the blade. Its figure swelled again, but like a fish on the hook, it followed the trajectory of Ling's sword swing.
Ling didn't deflect the Karyū directly. Instead, he held the hilt of the sword more tightly with both hands. When the blade reached its highest point, he let the long - sword draw an arc from the side of his body, then suddenly lifted it back, sending the more powerful Karyū back to Uchiha Akihiko.
Uchiha Akihiko naturally didn't dare to confront the Karyū that had gone out of his control. He immediately dodged to the side. But his dodge caused trouble for the watching [clan members] standing behind him. They didn't have enough time to dodge. They all cursed and stepped back further. Some unlucky ones even took off their burned outer robes and threw them on the ground.
Realizing the intensity of the fight between the two, the watching [clan members] joined hands to form seals and erected thick earth walls around the [training ground] to prevent the two from affecting them.
However, the actions of these [clan members] didn't affect the two fighting in the arena. Taking advantage of the cover of the Karyū, Ling had rushed in front of Uchiha Akihiko. He swept the long - sword in his hand horizontally, forcing Uchiha Akihiko's jumping action into a backward bend.
After achieving success with one move, Ling didn't show mercy. He stepped forward again, forcing Uchiha Akihiko to dodge in the direction he had planned. The blade [Coiling Around] a pale blue airflow slashed straight down, aiming directly at Uchiha Akihiko's throat. He actually wanted to decide the outcome with this single strike!
But just then, an unexpected change occurred.
A huge blue - white skeleton suddenly appeared out of thin air and bounced off Ling's long - sword. Just as Ling was surprised, a whistling wind came from the left. [Blue - White Bone Fist] hit Ling's body heavily. The speed was so fast that Ling didn't even have time to curl up his body to reduce the damage.
Ling, who was hit by the bone fist, rolled all the way and hit the earth wall. Half of his body was even embedded in the wall. This earth wall, which the [clan members] had set up to allow them to fight freely, had now become the culprit that worsened his injury. As soon as Ling struggled to the ground, he coughed up a mouthful of blood, and his entire left arm hung limply.
But at this time, compared with the injured Ling, Uchiha Akihiko, who was protected in the middle by the blue - white ribs and bone arms, was obviously more eye - catching. The watching [clan members] began to discuss what kind of [ninjutsu] this blue - white skeleton was and how to deal with it.
Naturally, this discussion couldn't avoid sizing up Uchiha Akihiko, the protagonist. Some clan members who had already awakened their three - tomoe Sharingan clearly saw the bloodline on Uchiha Akihiko's throat. Immediately, they stopped sizing him up and turned their gazes to Ling, who was putting his dislocated left arm back into place on the sidelines. While admiring him, they couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
To make a long story short, the confrontation between the two was actually less than two minutes, from the moment Uchiha Akihiko threw the Shuriken to the moment Ling was sent flying by the pale - blue bones.
That's just how it is for ninjas. Unless they deliberately avoid it during training, deciding the outcome, life or death with an opponent only takes a moment.
Uchiha Akihiko covered the bloodline on his throat and let out a bitter laugh. Finally, he calmed down mentally. He had thought that after obtaining the Mangekyo Sharingan, he was undoubtedly the strongest among his peers. But now...
Uchiha Akihiko looked at Ling, who stood up again, through the gaps between the ribs of the pale - blue bones with a complicated expression. "I lost. Even though I was in poor condition, a loss is still a loss..."
"But, Ling! You felt it, right?! This absolute power! It excels in strength, speed, and defense! With it, we - "
Ling faced Uchiha Akihiko's direction, gritted his teeth, and reattached his left arm. "Shut up."
Uchiha Akihiko stopped talking and looked at Ling, who knelt on the ground again. "Ling! Admit it! This kind of power is irresistible!"
"I said, shut up!" Ling stood up leaning on his long sword. He couldn't help but cough up some more blood, but the smile on his lips widened instead. "This battle isn't over yet. Stop using poor condition or the strength gap as excuses. In battles between ninjas, no one ever shows mercy to the enemy because of these things.
"I originally planned to cut your trachea and then have the medical ninja treat you. But now it seems that there's one more thing for me to shred."
Uchiha Akihiko frowned again. "Fine, then just try your best. I've already lost, so just attack!
"As long as you can break through this Susanoo and hit me, I'll follow your orders from now on without hesitation. You can even ask me to pluck out these eyes and give them to you!"
"That's really tempting. But forget about digging out the eyes. After all, going blind is quite uncomfortable..." Ling wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his still - shaking left hand. He crouched down, looking like a vicious beast about to pounce. "But you said you'd follow my orders. I won't be polite then - "
As Ling's voice fell, the long sword in his hand was once again Coiling Around by the cyan Wind - Attribute Chakra. This time, the Wind - Attribute Chakra Coiling Around the sword was no longer a light gust of wind, but a thin blade that exuded a sharp aura and seemed capable of shredding everything.
Meanwhile, delicate light blue electric arcs began to dance on Ling's body. Distinct muscle lines emerged on his exposed forearms. Feeling the numb pain as the lightning - Attribute chakra flowed through his body, Ling's smile at the corner of his mouth became even more arrogant. He looked up in the direction of Uchiha Akihiko and said, "Here I come?"